High School Productions

2009/10 Production - Oliver

Oliver, was performed in front of a packed Performing Arts Centre. From the opening Workhouse scene, with its wonderful ‘Food Glorious Food’, to the shocking finale, the pace did not slacken. World famous songs such as ‘Where is Love?’ and ‘As Long as he Needs me’ were delivered with considerable power and received rapturous applause. The  performance was incredibly diverse, including heart-rending solos, duets, quartets, choral songs and dance routines. It would be wrong to single out a star performance from such a large and talented cast. Thanks must go to all for a brilliant evening’s entertainment.

2008/9 Production - The House of Bernarda Alba

Last year the High School girls gave a very dark and powerful performance of The House of Bernarda Alba. The play by the Spanish dramatist Federico García Lorca centers on the events of an Andalusian house during a period of mourning, in which the title character (age 60) wields total control over her five daughters Angustias (39 years old), Magdalena (30), Amelia (27), Martirio, (24), and Adela (20). The housekeeper (La Poncia) and Bernarda's mother (María Josefa) also live there. The deliberate exclusion of any male character from the action is highly significant as it helps to build up the high level of sexual tension that is present throughout the play. Pepe "el Romano", the love interest of Bernarda's daughters and suitor of Angustias, never actually appears on stage.

The play explores themes of repression, passion, and conformity, and inspects the effects of men upon women. Bernarda's cruel tyranny over her daughters foreshadows the stifling nature of Franco's fascist regime, which was to arrive just a few weeks after Lorca finished writing his play.

Everyone who saw the High School production of the play was moved by the mature and professional performances by the girls involved. They were also  hugely impressed with the standards achieved in all areas of the production.

2007/8 Production - Dangerous Abbey

In 2008 the Dama Department departed from the traditional approach of performing a play or musical by an established playwrite and decided to take the production 'in-house'. The musical was therefore written by Mrs Judy Emerick, who teaches Drama and Spoken English at the school. The music was written by Mr Jim Hawkins, who taught music at the time, with lyrics by Mrs Emerick. The production was a resounding success and has brought critical acclaim for them, with the possibility of publishing and selling the musical nationwide.

Set in a High School, the musical explored the complexity of forming new friendships, and the vulnerabilty and angst associated with 'fitting in ' in the Secondary School environment with all its trials and triblations. The success of the production was in part due to the empathy that could be felt with the main characters, the performances of the girls involved and the vibrant, moving and skillfully executed songs.